Born in Nassau, The Bahamas

Lives and works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2022

MFA, OCAD University, Toronto, Ontario

2016

BFA, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, British Columbia

2012

The College of The Bahamas, Nassau, New Providence

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2025

"How We Go," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming)

2023

"Gio Swaby: Fresh Up," Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA

"Gio Swaby: Fresh Up," Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Il

"I Will Blossom Anyway," Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY

2022

"Gio Swaby: Fresh Up," Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, St Petersburg, FL

2021

"Both Sides of The Sun," Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY

"Another Side to Me," 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK

2018

"Rooted," The Current, Nassau, Bahamas

2017

"We All Know Each Other," Unit/Pitt Projects, Vancouver, BC

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

"Art Toronto," Claire Oliver Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

"Crosscurrents," Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY

"Domestic Idols," Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN

Expo Chicago, Claire Oliver Galler, Chicago, IL

"The Experience of Expression," Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN

"Fabric of a Nation," Cummer Museum, Jacksonville, FL

"Shared Vision," African American Museum in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

"Thread: Making Patterns," Kemper Museum, Kansas City, MO

2023

"Daughter/ Mother/ Ancestor: Threads of Connection," Indianapolis Museum of Art, Galleries at Newfields, Indianapolis, IN

Expo Chicago, Claire Oliver Galler, Chicago, IL

"Fabric of a Nation," Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA

2022

Expo Chicago, Claire Oliver Galler, Chicago, IL

"National Exhibition 10," National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas

2021

"Fabric of a Nation," Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA

"Rituals of Resilience," Minneapolis Institute of Artt, Minneapolis, MN

"Untitled Art Fair," Claire Oliver Gallery, Miami Beach, FL

2020

"Four Now," Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY

"Net Worth," United Contemporary, Toronto, ON

2018

"Die Textile: Stoffsuche," Kunsthaus Alte Mühle, Schmallenberg, Germany

2017

"Übersee: Cuba and The Bahamas," Halle 14, Leipzip, Germany

2016

"National Exhibition 8," National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas

2015

"Map of the New Art," Giorgio Cini Foundation, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Italy

"Nassau Calling," HilgerBROTKunsthalle, Vienna, Austria

2014

"National Exhibition 7," National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas

Publications

2024

Mothes, Kate. “Embodying Vibrance and Joy, Gio Swaby’s Patterned Portraits Celebrate Blackness and Womanhood," Colossal, December 28 (Link)

Armstrong, Byron. “Gio Swaby in ‘Focus’ at Art Toronto," Whitehot Magazine, October (Link)

Hanna, Yolanda. “Gio Swaby - Visual Artist," Up and Away: Bahamasair Inflight Magazine, April

2023

Whyte, Murray. “At Peabody Essex Museum, Gio Swaby’s Virtuosic Portraits of Black Women in Thread and Fabric," The Boston Globe, August 23 (Link)

Edquist, Grace. “Gio Swaby’s Stitched Portraits Reveal the Beauty of the Undone," Vogue, June 8 (Link)

Allen, Corrina. “A Cut Above.” Re:Porter: The Journal of Porter Airlines, p. 7., May

WayneGuite, Jacqueline. “An Ode to Black Women," Chicago Reader, April 19 (Link)

Belmont, Sarah. “Gio Swaby’s First Museum Solo Show Is a Celebration of Blackness and Womanhood," ARTnews, April 17 (Link)

Rigou, Vasia. “Styling as a Form of Resistance: A Review of Gio Swaby ‘Fresh up’ at the Art Institute of Chicago," Newcity Art, April 11 (Link)

Team EBONY. “Amazing Exhibits by Black Artists to Check out This Spring and Summer," EBONY, April 10 (Link)

2022

Obie, Brooke. “The Root of Black Joy: The Work of Bahamian Artist Gio Swaby," Gagosian Quarterly, Winter 2022, pp. 124–127

Jones, Okla. “Visual Artist Gio Swaby Wants to Leave a Legacy of Love through Her Work," Essence, September 27 (Link)

Jones, Okla. “A Fresh View," Essence, September

Holliday, Kayla. “Fiber Optics," Vanity Fair, June

DeYoung, Bill. “‘Fresh Up’: MFA Artist Gio Swaby Tells Personal Stories through Textiles," St Pete Catalyst, May 27 (Link)

Hannah-Jones, Nikole. “Nikole Hannah-Jones and Gio Swaby on Portraiture That Uplifts Black Women," Literary Hub, May 26 (Link)

Zhekova, Dobrina. “Gio Swaby’s Textile Portraits Are a Love Letter to Black Womanhood," Harper’s Bazaar, April 6 (Link)

2021

Cascone, Sarah. “In Miami, Buyers Hit the Beach for Untitled Art Fair-to Gallerists’ Palpable Relief. Here’s What’s Sold so Far," Artnet News, November 30 (Link)

Louis, Pierre-Antoine. “A Love Letter to Black Women," The New York Times, April 10 (Link)

Cascone, Sarah. “Meet Artist Gio Swaby, the 29-Year-Old Phenom Whose Sold-out Debut Boasted Buyers Including Eight Museums (and Roxane Gay)," Artnet News, June 4 (Link)

Selected Awards & Grants

2024

Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create: Concept to Realization

2023

Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create: Research and Creation

2022

Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create: Concept to Realization

OCAD University, Dean’s Scholarship

Ontario Graduate Scholarship

2021

BC Arts Council Scholarship 2021

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship

OCAD University, Dean’s Scholarship

Ontario Graduate Scholarship

2020

British Columbia Arts Council, Individual Arts Grant: Visual Artist

British Columbia Arts Council, Scholarship

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship

OCAD University, Dean’s Scholarship

Public Collections

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY

Central Bank of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas

Harper House, Detroit, MI

Indianapolis Museum of Art Galleries at Newfields, Indianapolis, IN

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN

MSU Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL

Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA

National Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA

RBC Art Collection, Toronto, ON, Canada

Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY

The Baha Mar Collection, Nassau, Bahamas

Weisman Art Museum , Minneapolis, MN